[SatNews] Integral Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq:ISYS) has been awarded a task order with a base year and four option years, for a task order value of $4.1 million contract to modernize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Polar Ground Systems (PGS).

PGS delivers Command and Control (C2) operations for NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), and Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC); constellations of polar-orbiting weather satellites providing global atmospheric and surface measurements for NOAA environmental forecast models. The ground stations scheduled for upgrading are located in Suitland, Maryland, Wallops, Virginia and Fairbanks, Alaska. Under the terms of the contract, Integral Systems will provide a critical technology refresh of the PGS ground station hardware and software, which will allow the continuation of the POES, DMSP, Jason-2, and COSMIC missions throughout the next decade. Integral Systems had been the major contributor of previous PGS upgrades. PGS has provided automated control for NOAA's polar satellite fleet since 1992. The Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC) and the Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC) located at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, Maryland, and the NOAA Command and Data Acquisition Stations (CDAS) at Fairbanks, Alaska (FCDAS) and Wallops, Virginia (WCDAS), comprise the PGS. Command and data acquisition control of the polar-orbiting and geostationary operational satellites is conducted at the SOCC through communications links with CDAS ground system facilities.